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There are many different types of turnover; some are welcome, and some aren’t. When a consistently poor performer with a bad attitude is replaced with an employee who excels, that’s the kind of turnover you want to see. However, that’s not always what happens. Very often, turnover can have some seriously negative effects on the organization.
Financially: Every time a business replaces a salaried employee, it costs an average of 6-9 months’ salary. For a manager making $40K, that’s $20-$30,000.
Employee Morale: When employees leave, their work is dispersed among the remaining workers, increasing their workload, but they rarely see compensation for the increase.
Productivity: It may take a new employee 1-2 years to reach the productivity of an existing person.
It may take a new employee 1-2 years to reach the productivity of an existing person.
I Want to Advance
A Gallup poll revealed the number one reason for voluntary turnover is lack of career advancement or promotional opportunities. 31.5% of survey respondents left their jobs for this reason.
What you can do about it: The easiest step to take is to ensure your employees know about your formal advancement and development programs. If you’re rolling your eyes at the simplicity of this solution, you’re not alone. A LinkedIn survey found 69% of HR managers said employees were well aware of the formal advancement programs in place, yet just 25% of the departing employees in the survey said they knew of them. Educate your employees, and invite them to take advantage of these programs. Encouragement is the step that will fill that information gap.
The #1 reason for voluntary turnover is lack of career advancement or promotional opportunities.
I Need a Flexible Work Environment
Flexibility in the workplace is the hottest new perk, and many employees actually place workplace freedom and balance above compensation. In fact, 45% of workers surveyed said they would accept a lower salary in order to obtain a better work-life balance.
What you can do about it: The tough part here is workplace flexibility, or a work-life balance will quite often mean different things to different people. A parent might want paid vacation, a single person might want work from home options and the returning to school employee might want flex hours. Make this part of your performance review dialogue. Set goals that will make these individual preferences possible. Create a give and take situation that enhances the employee’s individual goal alignment with those of the organization to achieve a win-win.
45% of workers would accept a lower salary in order to obtain a better work-life balance.
I’m Not Appreciated
43% of employees polled said they were looking for another job because of lack of recognition in their current position. This one always pains me to see, because it is the simplest one to prevent, and saying thank you costs nothing.
What you can do about it: Well for starters, make thank you the most popular phrase in your workplace vocabulary. Now, ditch those traditional quarterly reviews for an updated performance management program, one that facilitates continuous two-way feedback, 360-performance reviews and real-time recognition alerts.
43% of employees polled said they were looking for another job because of lack of recognition in their current position.
My Boss Doesn’t Trust or Empower Me
An Accenture report revealed the number two reason employees start to look for another job; 31% of employees felt a lack of empowerment from their leaders. This is perhaps one of the most overlooked reasons behind voluntary turnover, yet one of the most compelling for employees.
What you can do about it: We realize that to tell leaders to just take their hands off the wheel is a dangerous move and one that would probably give most of them a nervous breakdown. Instead, implement a performance management system with goal alignment integration. This type of technology gives leaders a bird’s eye view of their team’s performance in real-time (as in, you can see what their pains and successes are as they’re happening). This will give employees a sense of empowerment, while leaders maintain the necessary control and overview to ensure success.
The #2 reason employees leave is because they felt a lack of empowerment from their leaders.
Preventing turnover doesn’t have to be an all give and no take situation. Employee satisfaction initiatives can actually start a collaborative dialogue around how the goals of the individual can align with the goals of the organization.
Performance management should no longer be the tug of war between employers and their employees, but rather the strongest facilitator of forward motion.
